All week I heard "Brewers", "let's go see "Brewers".  For a couple of three year-olds, they really didn't know what exactly they were, except that they were related to baseball.   I'm thinking that this was a good start to their young lives.

I figured after seeing that this weekend was the 5 county promotion where tickets were half off, I didn't have much of a chance of getting any seats.  I checked on Thursday and the ticket office didn't have any two seats together and to my luck, they were accepting vouchers from the 2007 C'mon Back Club in exchange for standing room only tickets.  I figured what the heck, kids don't want to sit and watch an entire game.  Baseball is a complicated sport for 3 year olds.  They just wanted to know who had the ball.  Heck, they thought dad was playing when we got there. 

This Brewer game was the first of the season and their first Brewer game of their young lives.  I felt like they could go on with their lives now.  Actually, I felt that it was my duty to share with them a cool experience, minus the drunkenness and swearing.  Obviously they really didn't know what it was about, besides that I watched them and I talked about them.  They really didn't quite understand that what they saw at the ballpark, was what they saw on TV, were actually the same thing.  Regardless, they played on the kid area and did the little kid sausage race.  They spent a good amount of time on our shoulders and snacking on candy and other goodies and for some reason they really liked the sausages.  My fiance' and I were happy they were well behaved and I was happy I could spend a night like this. 

The only sad part was missing Fielder's 8th inning home run.  We were on our way out, but little guys got to see the fireworks.

Next up, Cardinals on May 10th, kids and all.

    

So I'm an avid fantasy sports player.  I do baseball, football, golf, hockey, occasionally basketball, NCAA, and I have done Nascar (shhhhh, I was didn't know what I was getting myself into).  Anyway, this year I was in a basketball league and it might be the last time I grace anyone's presence in a basketball league.  I think there is a direct correlation between the type of person and the sport or team they are a fan of.  I know basketball is full of trash talking on and off the court, but it appears it boils over to the fantasy end of it.  I mean these people couldn't even find the hole in the basketball hoop and if they did, their head couldn't even fit through it.  Anyway I didn't pay attention to the basketball league anymore and was happy to see the season go. 

Moving on to baseball....  I've been playing fantasy baseball the longest, all the way back to the free Sandbox.com days.  Now you have to pay for Sandbox.com, but there you get people who actually care about playing and there is a chance to win cash.  Because I'm on welfare (well, pretty close) but !Yahoo still has free games and there's pretty decent people in those leagues.  That was until this week. I'll try to keep this short....I like custom leagues, gives you different categories and usually they are pretty competitive.  So I joined one.  Little did I know that I was playing with a bunch knobs with IQs equivalent to their middle finger.  Vulgarities, unnecessary comments about genitalia, people questioning others sexuality, and the kicker was rosters being modified without permission!  That was my last straw!

I can only deal with so much juvenile behavior.  I have more patience with toddlers than I do teenagers or adults.  The start of all this was a comment I made to the commish about a player that he dropped of another team's roster without his permission.  I checked my team later that evening and found the rest of my team was dropped and the players were already picked up by other teams.  You're probably thinking I made some smart *** comment, but it was actually a pretty safe question asking if he was going to drop any more people if a player hit a grand slam against the White Sox (assuming he was fan).  GO FIGURE! that some south-side, foul-mouth, fool would do that.



In all honesty, I don't care, I benched the rest of my team and called it a year.  I changed my team name and talked some smack as a parting shot to the d-bag commish.  I mean I didn't pay money and fantasy baseball isn't getting me anywhere.  So congratulations to some guy who sits up to 1 in the morning caring about if he takes first in a fantasy baseball league while he twists one off to the Playboy Logo channel.         

It seems like a word I use frequently when the Brewers are playing, especially in the past week.  How many more extra inning games are they going to play?  How many more blown saves is Gagne due for?  How many more pitchers are they going to call up?  All this is unbelievable!  I guess fans should be happy that they are over .500 as well as 5-1 in extra inning games.  Believe it or not, I'm still a fan of Gagne.  Even though four blown saves might sound like a lot, they've only lost one of one of those games where he's blown a save.  The hitters have been saving his rear.  Nonetheless, it's down right frustrating.  Thankfully we have two or three others that can easily take over the closer role.  I like the fact that Yost hasn't lost faith and neither has the team.  Once a pitcher gets a sniff of the team losing faith in them, the fat lady has sung.   

On a personal note, this Saturday will be a run of emotions .  A funeral for an unexpected death and a Brewer game with two 3 year olds.  This should be interesting.

Yes, that means thirty-three in Spanish.  Thirty-three is actually my favorite number because that's the one I wear on my baseball uniform when I try to play hardball.  I've had the number since junior college and then every summer after that.  It's just been a number that has stuck with me. 

The reason I talk about it, is because Miguel Tejada's age is actually thirty-three instead of thirty-one.  I'll spare you the details on how his age changed and you can Google the article whenever you're bored.  After ESPN reported this for their new program E:60, Tejada admits he is infact thirty-three.  Whew!  I though he was maybe 40, because you know that two years is such a big deal!  Who cares, lets move on!  It's baseball season, there's games going on and other more important issues to discuss.  Anyway, I have a few theories if you want to call them, on why I think it's not Tejada's fault that MLB got the wrong age:

1.  El scouto no habla espanol.  I'm sure Tejada said he was nineteen (diecinueve), but scouts having little or no spanish speaking ability probably misunderstood him.  Have you ever hear Tejada speak? 

2.  Tejada admitted he was poor.  What are the odds that a poor kid could read or write, much less pick out a number? 

3.   What are the odds that the information ESPN found is legit?   I mean who's keeping tabs of this stuff in a country filled with turmoil and despair?  There is a large gap between the rich and the poor.  What if Tejada's dad is just in it for the money?  I'm sure ESPN bought his next 3 years of smokes in trade for his birth certificate.

4.   When Tejada played for the Athletics, he didn't have time to look at the program, he was busy tearing it up on the field.  The only thing he needed to see was the bat hitting the ball and the ball slapping the leather.

All in all, I hope this doesn't boil over to something completely ridiculous.  I like ESPN, they have great programs, but let's be honest, we don't need them becoming the TMZ of the sports world.  Jim Rome already has that job.

Baseball is a game of patience.  Great hitters know that getting on base takes patience.  Great pitchers know that controlling the game takes patience (and a good umpire).  Working the count is a sign of a great hitter.  Last night Fielder demonstrated great patience with four base on balls.  Although I said working the count is a sign of a great hitter, I don't think Prince is that great of a hitter.  I think he's a good hitter with power.  If he can keep his batting average above .300, then I think there's an argument.  I put him the same class as Jim Thome and David Ortiz (notice I didn't say McGwire and Bonds), but not as pure hitters like Ichiro or Tony Gwynn.  Either way, my hat is off to Prince for his patience.  

Looks like its time to sacrifice saving money at the cheap pump to get some free tickets.  The past couple years I've saved up the cards and sent them in for the last game of the season at the last possible day the promotion went.  I do this in order to get tickets for games the following season.  This year the tickets have to be used in the month of April.  The year before there were four dates the tickets could be used for.  So I take my chances to see what they  offer for the next season.  Go here http://www.cmonbackclub.com/ for more information.

To be honest they don't give you the best selection of games with those free tickets.  The majority are weekday games.  Seems obvious that they want people to get out the weekday games against lesser popular teams.  Good for them, I personally don't have the time.  You also get the chance to upgrade the tickets in case you don't want to sit in the nose bleeds. 

I hope I pick the right game to see this....

Ah, beer, brats, baseball.....sounds like a perfect day, even more so when its opening day in Milwaukee.  This year's opponent is the SF Giants.  They still are a mediocre team even with Bonds leaving.  If the pitchers do their job today, and Yost pulls the starter at the right time, I think we'll be in good shape.

Believe it or not, I have never been to a home opener.  I never actually had the opportunity either, but it is something that is up there on my list of things to do.  I'm thinking next year I will buy season tix, and hopefully the Opening day deal is going on. 

I'm jealous Steve!  Have fun man!

....and watch your step ;)

.......about $.40 in mint condition according some sellers.

1979 Topps Rookie Card

Being a fan of the Brewers, there is nothing better than seeing them win against the Cubs.  On top of that, it is nice to see the Cubs in the basement.  Yes it's early, but knowing that the Cubs actually do have a good team, (not better than the Brewers of course), we need a jump start on these guys. 

I can see it now...

(Queue that hot and humid feeling)

....its the end of August/beginning of  September, a couple games separating the two teams for the division lead.  The Brewers are up and down, the Cubs are riding a few streaks......that little nervous feeling hits us as each game becomes more and more important...Oh wait! What's this!  Do I see the Brewers have the lead in the season series?  Alright, no big deal, let the Cubs catch up, let them have the same record as the Brewers at the end of the season.  

I may be getting ahead of myself, but when you've waited so long for something, patience is tough.

At 1:20 CST, let's get the brooms out!  I'll be listening.

 I'm new to the blogging world.  Although I might spell words wrong, use bad punctuation, and might not make sense, doesn't mean I'm illiterate, maybe just a little sloppy.  All that aside, I like to talk about the Brewers and baseball in general.  I have a friend Steve (mybrewers.mlblogs.com) who blogs and does a really good job.  I think he's got a degree in Journalism, so that means he's a good writer.  Me, I'm a half geek, half jock, if you want to classify me like we're in high school.